


A Fan of Every Part of You

by caitlinrose923



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Halloweek, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-03 02:56:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21172274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlinrose923/pseuds/caitlinrose923
Summary: Killian Jones has a really loud, destructive upstairs neighbor, and he's about to lose his patience with them. But when he discovers that it's a beautiful witch with a soft spot for his dangerous familiar, Captain, that complicates things just a bit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WOOOO!! I've been so excited about this story, y'all.  
Absolutely endless gratitude to [courtorderedcake](https://courtorderedcake.tumblr.com/) for her lovely artwork, which is viewable [here](https://awkwardnessandbaseball.tumblr.com/post/188584806134/lets-get-this-party-started-its), on Tumblr, because I don't know how to add images to a story on AO3 because technology is the worst.  
Thank you to [csrolereversal](https://csrolereversal.tumblr.com/) for hosting an event that stretched my writing muscles and presented a unique challenge for me as a writer.  
And thank you thank you THANK YOU to my amazing beta, [sherlockianwhovian](https://sherlockianwhovian.tumblr.com/) for making sure my words made sense and overall making me feel so good about the things I write. What a gal.
> 
> Without further ado, I present my **VERY FIRST** Halloweek fic ever!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
The art that inspired the fic, brought to you by [courtorderedcake](https://courtorderedcake.tumblr.com/).

*BANG*

Killian jumped in the air at the noise, dropping the jar of bearberry he’d been holding. 

“Bloody hell. That was expensive,” Killian groaned, leaning down to clean up his mess. It was far from the first time he’d dropped an expensive ingredient for one of his potions, but until recently, it had at least been his own fault. Now, however, he had a new neighbor upstairs.

A very _loud_ neighbor. 

He’d never met them, of course, but it seemed like perhaps it was not one, but several hundred people up above his head.

Or perhaps several hundred elephants.

*BANG* *CRASH*

_That’s it_, Killian thought to himself, grabbing his broom. 

*TAP TAP TAP* 

He poked the handle of the broom against his ceiling at what he hoped was a loud enough volume that the mysterious, noise-making neighbor would hear it. He didn’t dare poke any harder for fear of breaking the old thing clean in half. 

*BANG BANG BANG* 

It was the unmistakable sound of a foot being stomped on the ground above his head, at the same rhythm at which he’d just poked the broom.

“Seriously? Is there a six-year-old living above me now?” Killian grumbled at what he thought was an appropriate level for his own living space.

“No, is there a jackass living below me now?” a muffled voice responded from above.

Ah, his new neighbor was a woman then. At least he knew something about her now, although that didn’t make him any less frustrated by her noise level _or_ the fact that she could apparently hear him through the floor of her apartment.

“No, just someone who’s tired of dropping all of his expensive ingredients due to a bunch of surprising noises from above!” Killian yelled back.

“Then maybe you should be more careful!”

“Pot, meet kettle!”

There was silence then.

Followed by a lot of noise on the stairwell, and then a loud banging on Killian’s door.

He groaned.

“Come to show your face then, finally?” he asked as he swung the door open, holding it carefully so that his familiar, Captain, was just out of view. What he saw in front of him was… not what he expected. The woman standing in his doorway, who was so angry there were literal red waves of infuriated energy coming off of her, was beautiful.

Beautiful, and angry, and with a loud, vibrant energy that glowed around her much brighter than anyone he’d seen before.

Of course.

He held the door steady with his right hand, ignoring Captain’s low groan from the couch.

It wasn’t that Killian was _ashamed_ of Captain. Not at all. Killian was quite proud of the large creature taking up residence on his couch. It was just that Captain was… misunderstood.

Growing up, as all of his friends had started showing off their familiars, Killian had been without one. He had waited, and waited, and waited. He wanted to know that companionship so badly. But it wasn’t until his older brother had died that Captain had appeared. Without Liam, Killian was forced to grow up very quickly, and so Captain had been borne of grief, sorrow, and loneliness.

The problem was that Captain wasn’t an ordinary familiar. Most witches had created birds or cats, or even a few dogs. There were a few others -- some large cats among his friends with tendencies toward dark magic.

But Killian’s own familiar was the only hybrid he’d ever seen. Captain was larger than a panther, though he had the look of one. He had a lion’s mane, which would have looked a bit out of place if not for his constant look of regality, and huge bat-like wings. He was quite intimidating to say the least.

At first, before Killian had realized just how out-of-place his familiar was, he’d ventured out as usual, walking down the street to the store at any time of day, Captain steady by his side.

But then the strange looks had begun, and the whispers. It took Killian a month to realize that people were, in fact, _scared_ of him.

“It’s not your fault,” Ruby, the witch who ran the local herb store, told him. Ruby had been the only person to tell Killian to his face that his familiar was… not normal. She was also the only person whose energy didn’t immediately turn to a cold, ice blue whenever they saw Killian with his familiar by his side. “You said his name’s Captain?” Killian nodded. “Well, Captain looks pretty dangerous, you know? Which means… _you_ could be dangerous. So… that’s why people are acting so strangely.”

Killian didn’t ask why _she_ wasn’t afraid of him. The glint in her eye told him he probably didn’t want to know.

Ashamed of himself and whatever danger must lie in his soul, Killian had stopped venturing out during the day. Ruby stayed at work late whenever he needed supplies, and that arrangement had meant that no one new had seen Captain in about five years.

It also meant that Killian hadn’t really spoken to anyone besides Ruby and the grocery delivery boy in that long.

Until right now.

“Can you please stop banging on your ceiling when I’m trying to work?” the angry blonde woman nearly screamed in his face. “It’s very distracting, and I’m working with very sensitive spells.”

“Pardon, milady, but your raucous noises are causing me quite a bit of disturbance as well.” Killian gestured towards the mess of bearberry on the floor of his kitchen. “That was rather expensive, and I can’t get to the store for at least another six hours.”

He winced, realizing belatedly that he’d revealed too much. He was really terrible at the whole _personal interaction_ thing. 

_Just a bit rusty_, he thought to himself.

“Why not?” the woman asked, arching an eyebrow suspiciously.

“I… er… I can’t…” Killian stammered. Finally, after an embarrassing amount of ear scratching (his) and death stares (hers), he decided it might just be easier to show her than to continue this silent battle. “This is Captain,” he said, opening the door wider and revealing the oversized winged panther lying on top of his couch. “If you cross the threshold, I can’t promise he won’t do something stupid. He’s very protective.”

“He’s beautiful,” she said quietly, and the energy around her shifted from dark, angry red to a soft green. “I’m Emma,” she added as an afterthought, holding out her hand.

“Killian,” he said, shaking her hand once. “Killian Jones.”

“Well, Killian, I’m sorry I made you spill your… what exactly was that?”

“Bearberry,” he answered automatically. She looked genuinely apologetic, and Killian wasn’t sure what exactly changed her attitude, but he was certainly thankful for it. 

“I’ll try to keep it down, or at least give you some warning.” She smiled softly at him.

“Er… thanks. Thank you,” he responded awkwardly. She nodded once and then turned towards the stairs to go back to her apartment.

An hour later, there was a soft knock at Killian’s door. He looked through the peephole, but no one was there. Cautiously, he opened the door just a tad, and there was a soft _thud_ by his feet.

A bundle of bearberry had fallen over without the door to hold it up. There was a note, and Killian found himself smiling before he had even opened it.

_Mr. Jones,_  
_I apologize again for making you spill your bearberry. This should be enough to get you through for a bit. I’ve also thrown in a small treat for Captain._  
_Enjoy,_  
_E. Swan_

********

The strange thing about quiet is that it makes you miss the noise. So when two days went by without a single crash, boom, or clunk from upstairs, Killian grew worried. It took him a third day to gather up the courage to knock on her door.

As soon as it opened, he heard a whole _plethora_ of noises. Whirrs and clanks and, of course, crashes.

“Swan, what the hell?”

He wasn’t sure why it came out of his mouth. But when she’d signed the note “E. Swan” he’d pictured her and her beautiful face and well… okay, she wasn’t exactly graceful or swanlike but somehow, still, ‘Swan’ seemed to suit her.

She hesitated a moment, a blush creeping up her neck.

“I charmed the apartment. So you wouldn’t hear… all of this.” She grabbed a loose strand of hair and started twisting it in her hands. “I felt bad. About before.”

It really wasn’t a grand gesture. She had cast a fairly simple charm so that her neighbors wouldn’t be disturbed by all the noise constantly coming from her apartment. A miniscule part of Killian’s brain wondered why she hadn’t done that to begin with, but he ignored it in favor of the more prominent thought in his mind: she’d done this for _him_.

“You didn’t have to… that’s very kind.”

An awkward silence fell over them before Killian glanced behind her into her apartment. It was nearly identical to his in layout, but where he kept his living space organized and tidy, Emma lived in what looked to be the middle of a biohazard. There were potions and ingredients and empty jars on nearly every surface. A stack of boxes towered far too high for Killian’s comfort just beside the dining room table. And a strange metal contraption right in the middle of the kitchen seemed to be the source of all the noise, whirring away and shaking far more than it looked like it should be.

And there, on the couch, lay a giant white… creature.

He knew, of course, that this must be her familiar. What he couldn’t figure out was what exactly it was. It looked both furry and feathered, and as Killian stared at it, the white color he’d originally seen started morphing into spots. And then stripes. And then back to white.

“What the--”

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I have to go now.”

And then the door was slammed in his face.


	2. Chapter 2

It was eight days later -- not that Killian had been counting -- when he finally saw her again. He was coming back from his late-night trip to the store when he heard a familiar voice cursing out in the hall. He kept climbing past his own floor and found her with her head leaning against the closed door of her apartment. She glowed dark purple, frustration and defeat present in the waves around her.

“Swan?” he called softly, hoping not to startle her.

“Killian?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “I’m fine,” she said, just a bit too quickly. She glanced past him at Captain, a softness taking over her features.

“Let me guess. You’re locked out?” He’d worn the same look before when Liam had accidentally locked the house up with magic before Killian had control over his.

“No!” Emma cried defensively. A pause, then, “yes.”

“How’d you do that?” Killian asked as he approached her. He laid his bags of supplies down by her door.

“I used a spell to make the door stay shut until morning.” Emma stopped, and Killian waited until she was ready to continue. She slid down the wall, landing on the floor with a soft _thud_. The next part came out in one breath. “I’ve been sleepwalking, or something. And causing… problems. So I figured I would just magic the door shut and make it unbreakable, you know? Eight hours, big whoop.” She looked at Killian, as though she weren’t sure what to expect from him.

“Sounds like a solid plan,” he said, nodding for her to continue before sliding down to sit next to her. 

“Well then I realized I hadn’t checked the mail and I was expecting a delivery so I ran down and left the door open, but the wind blew it shut and _Odette is on the other side_.” Her voice lowered as she spoke, the end of her sentence barely a whisper.

Ah, Odette must have been the name of her familiar. The furry-feathered creature with the changing patterns.

Being away from her familiar, even for only a few hours, would be painful for Emma. It was no wonder she was so frustrated.

“You can come and wait it out in my apartment,” Killian offered, leaving out the fact that Emma entering the apartment would entail locking Captain in the bedroom to keep him away from her. “Odette would be able to hear you through the floor, as we learned.” He gently bumped her shoulder with his own, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. It seemed to work, as she chuckled and the purple around her softened to a shade closer to lavender.

“Yeah, but then I charmed the apartment.” She shrugged in defeat. “She won’t be able to hear me. Or vice versa.”

“Well, you may not be able to break the timed spell on your door, but surely you can undo the silencing charm, even from out here,” Killian offered, and Emma started to look a little hopeful.

“You think so?”

“Sure, Swan. I’ve yet to see you fail,” he said with a grin, standing and offering her his hand. She took it, and their joined hands glowed a soft pink. If Emma noticed, she didn’t let on.

“You’ve yet to see me do much of anything,” she scoffed, but with a small smile of her own.

“The point still stands,” he insisted.

With a deep breath, Emma held out her hands in front of her and closed her eyes in concentration. As she tried to break the charm from outside of her apartment, her energy shifted through the entire rainbow of colors, finally ending on a bright green when the whirrs and clanks from inside of her apartment began echoing around the hallway.

“I did it!” Her eyes were bright with excitement and she hugged Killian. He was surprised by the sudden show of affection, but reacted quickly, wrapping his arms around her waist with a laugh.

“Aye, you did!” He spun her around, delighted by her excitement, and belatedly realized that they were quite close to where Captain had sat himself on the top step. Emma’s foot brushed him mid-spin and Killian froze, carefully placing Emma on the ground before positioning himself between his familiar and his… neighbor? Friend?

Were they friends?

_Now’s really not the time_, he silently berated himself, waiting for Captain to attack. Familiars didn’t touch. Witches didn’t touch familiars. It was all very widely known, universally accepted. But Captain, particularly, would be angered by the accidental brush of foot to chest. Captain hadn’t really been around anyone but Killian, and occasionally Ruby, after all.

To her credit, Emma seemed to have figured out what happened, and was backing away slowly, inching towards her apartment door.

Captain sat, observing the two of them, before finally turning away and curling into himself to, apparently, have a nap.

“Is that… normal?” Emma whispered.

“Ah, no one’s ever touched him before. So… not sure,” Killian admitted. All he had to go on were stories passed down through generations, all with the same lesson: _Never _touch a familiar, _especially_ one belonging to another witch. “He’s lashed out at the delivery boy before, when he stepped over the threshold into the apartment. Poor kid didn’t even come near him.” Killian could hear the wonder and confusion mingling in his voice.

“Huh,” Emma breathed.

Killian’s eyes flicked back and forth between his familiar and Emma, unsure what to do next.

“I guess… I mean, now that Odette can hear me… we could… go to your place, instead of bothering the neighbors any more than my DeLorean already is.” She gestured vaguely towards her door and the clanks and bangs coming from inside.

“DeLorean?” Killian raised an eyebrow.

She flushed bright red, energy a mix of blues and yellows, not quite meeting in order to become green.

“It’s complicated. For a complicated spell.” Her tone made it clear she didn’t wish to go into any further detail.

“Mm, I see.” Killian nodded, then grabbed his nearly-forgotten back of supplies and led the way to his apartment. “Perhaps sometimes you’ll tell me about it.”

“Perhaps.”

Once she’d accidentally touched his familiar and elicited no reaction, it was a bit easier for Killian to allow Emma into his apartment. Captain entered first, and watched as Emma took a step across the threshold. He made a noise low in his throat that Killian took to mean he was giving his approval.

At any rate, they all still had all of their limbs.

Well, all of the limbs they’d started the evening with. Killian’s left hand had been missing since birth, a fact he hid with a variety of magic. Ordinarily, he used a spell to avert gazes away from his missing hand, but he’d toyed around with other options, including false hands and even an array of weapons. It was how he passed the time.

Once she’d been allowed in, Killian was unsure of how to entertain Emma Swan for the evening. And then she yawned, and he realized how late it was: nearly midnight. No entertainment necessary.

“The bedroom’s just down the hall,” Killian said. “But I suppose you knew that already.”

“Oh, I couldn’t--”

“We’re not gonna argue about this, Swan,” Killian laughed, scratching the back of his ear. “Please let me be a gentleman.”

She nodded with a small smile before heading down the hall towards his room. He settled in on the couch, Captain glaring at him from the small recliner in the corner.

“I know it’s not the greatest arrangement, Captain, but she needed the help.”

Captain stared at him for another moment before letting out a resigned breath of air and closing his eyes. Killian followed suit and was soon asleep.

“I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” A voice in the kitchen woke him up. “Oh, it’ll never be finished on time and I’m already late and it’s all a mess!”

*CRASH*

“Bloody hell,” Killian groaned, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. “Swan? What the devil are you doing?”

“I’m _LATE_!” she absolutely _screeched_ from the kitchen, waking Captain this time.

_I’ve been sleepwalking, or something…_ Emma’s words from earlier echoed in Killan’s mind.

Were you supposed to wake a sleepwalker? Killian could never remember. Perhaps he could calm her down without waking her.

“What are you late for, Emma?” he asked softly as he climbed off the couch and stepped towards the kitchen.

“I’m _always_ late,” she whispered. “Never enough. It’s never enough!” Her eyes were unfocused, unseeing.

“Maybe I can help,” he kept his voice even. “If you just tell me what’s wrong--”

“There’s no _time_,” she replied. “The machine needs more time and there’s no time to give it. It’s not enough.” She tilted her head. “I’m not enough.”

“Of course you are, Swan.” The nickname caught her attention and she spun her whole body towards him, eyes still unfocused. “Whatever it is you’re trying to do, you’ll do it. And if you need it… if you’ll let me… I’ll help.” He’d moved closer as he spoke, finally grabbing her hand on the last word.

“_Help_?” She seemed to slowly come into herself, eyes directed at him finally. “Killian?”

“Good morning, sunshine,” he joked. “You were uh…”

“Shit. Was I sleepwalking?” She blushed, taking in her surroundings. 

“Aye, it seems you were.” He still hadn’t let go of her hands. The same pink glow from earlier emitted from where their skin touched. “Are you… are you alright, Swan?”

She looked at him carefully.

“No, Killian. No, I’m not.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a short little chapter to get you through until the conclusion to this story posts on Halloween! Spoooooooky!

As it turned out, Emma Swan was keeping quite a lot of secrets. And once Killian got her to start sharing with him, the floodgates opened.

“And when I was ten, I stole another girl’s frog legs in class and blamed my friend Lily. I couldn’t afford my own and the girl was bragging about hers were _top of the line, French frog legs_ and I just wanted to make a really simple potion but I couldn’t--”

“I think we’re getting off track, love,” Killian said with a laugh. They’d settled on his couch, Captain snoring away in the recliner. Killian could make out shuffling from above as he imagined Odette lying down in the spot directly above Emma’s head.

“Right, right.”

“So, you’re trying to… _time travel_?” Killian asked, hoping he didn’t sound too incredulous. It was just… time travel was impossible.

“Yes.” She nodded once. “To when I was born.”

“To see why your parents left you,” he continued for her. She nodded again. “Because…”

“Because I’m clearly dangerous,” she said with a wide gesture vaguely towards the ceiling, and her own apartment, “but I don’t know how or why! I just… I need to see them. Maybe I can ask them, or convince them not to--”

“Woah, Swan. Travelling back in time is already, er… challenging enough. You certainly can’t go _changing the past_,” he insisted.

“Why not!?” Emma yelled. “If I’m powerful enough to get there, why shouldn’t I change it? I could change everything about my life, Killian! I could make it _better_.”

“You’re where you’re meant to be, Swan, I’m sure of it.” Killian thought about the pink energy that surrounded their hands whenever they’d touched. He’d never seen anything like it before. He was used to seeing colors surrounding people. An aura, or energy shifting around them. It was always dull, barely visible unless he was looking for it. But with Emma, from the very beginning, it had been bright and vibrant. He’d known she was angry, red waves coming off of her, before she’d even opened her mouth that first time. 

But energies… mixing? That’s what seemed to be happening. He never saw his own glow, not when he looked down at himself or in the mirror. But when he touched Emma, he glowed, and it mixed with her energy, and it was just… right.

Good. Killian gasped with the realization.

It was good magic.

He’d never performed magic with a _tendency_ before. His was always neutral. There was, of course, good magic in the world, and bad. Light and dark.

“Killian?” Emma looked worried. He’d gotten lost in thought, and surely the look on his face was one of shock.

“Emma, you’re where you’re meant to be,” he said again. He grabbed her hand, and the pink glow returned. “Do you see this?”

“What… what is that?”

“I see energy. It’s… one of my gifts. _Everyone_ looks like this to me.” He watched her for signs of disbelief, but she only looked curious. Intrigued. “The first time I met you, you were bright red with anger. And then you looked at Captain...” The familiar in question groaned in his sleep at the mention of his name. “And then you changed to green.”

“What’s green mean?” Their hands were still joined together.

“It depends. With you, it’s something tied into compassion. Caring. It’s soft.” She laughed at his explanation and he raised an eyebrow.

“No one has _ever_ used the word ‘soft’ to talk about me before,” she said. Her eyes met his and they were the same shade of green that had surrounded her that day. “What color am I now?”

“Same as our hands,” he whispered. “Pink. _Quite_ soft, Swan.” He leaned forward, hoping he was reading this correctly. It had been _quite_ a long time since he’d been alone with a woman, and this one _made his skin glow_.

“Hmm. Maybe soft isn’t the worst thing in the world,” she said just before her lips met his.

And it was _soft_. In fact, it was a lot of things. Killian tried not to open his eyes, he really did, but he had to know…

Sure enough, they both glowed pink. From head to toe, every inch he could see.

“I don’t understand,” Emma said suddenly. She pushed herself off of him and the pink glow receded. “I’m… I mean we both…” She trailed off and gestured towards Captain. “We’re both supposed to be dangerous, aren’t we?” She looked worried, all wide eyes and her mouth hanging open.

“Perhaps,” Killian began. “Or maybe the legends are incorrect. Maybe a hybrid familiar _doesn’t_ mean danger.” He stood and paced, trying to piece together what he knew about himself, about Emma. “How did Odette come to be, Swan?”

She tilted her head, unsure of where he was going with this change in direction.

“I was in foster care,” she said quietly. “And um… some older girl was taunting me, telling me no one would ever want me. And I got really angry, you know? And then… there was Odette.” Emma looked up at him, tears in her eyes. 

“Captain came when my brother, Liam, died.” Killian sat beside her, taking her hands in his. The pink glow returned and Emma stared at it. “I was miserable and alone, and had no idea what to do with myself. I was feeling quite lost. And Captain’s appearance was the first time I felt like, you know, maybe I could do all this stuff.”

“‘All this stuff?’” she echoed.

“Being a witch,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t really feel like I could do it, you know? Without Liam.”

She nodded in understanding. 

And then she kissed him again.

And then, of course, everything went to shit.


	4. Chapter 4

“What the hell was that?” Swan whispered, somehow louder than the ringing in Killian’s ears. As soon as their lips had touched for the second time, it was as though the entire world had… broken. 

Or something.

There had been shaking, and a bright light, and the sound of an explosion.

Killian looked around his apartment, but nothing seemed amiss. For how hard the shaking had felt, not a single book on his shelf or trinket above the fireplace seemed out of place. The bright white light had faded and the dim lamp shone on Captain--

_Captain_.

Where Killian’s oversized hybrid familiar had been curled up in the recliner only moments before, now lay a small black cat with no wings.

“Captain?” Killian whispered, and the cat moved in its sleep. Killian stood and approached the small creature. “Captain!” The cat’s eyes opened and they were the same blue as his own, the same as Captain’s had been. So… was this Captain? Uninterested, the cat closed its eyes and returned to its slumber.

“Killian, what’s going on?” Emma whispered.

“Honestly, love, I’m not sure. But I think… I think we’ve changed.” Killian spun around and looked at her. She was glowing pink, despite the distance between them. He looked down at himself and saw the same energy there. He’d _never_ been able to see his own energy before. “And that made Captain change.”

“No, Killian, that’s not possible. Captain… he was a hybrid. That’s so rare and doesn’t happen by accident and Odette was the same way. And those familiars are signs of danger.” She was breathing far too quickly, tears falling down her face from all the excitement and confusion. Killian sat beside her and took her hands once more. 

“Emma,” he said softly. She stopped talking, looking him in the eye. “I don’t think… that’s necessarily true. I think maybe our familiars are _who we need them to be_. And when we were alone, the two of us, we needed something to protect us, or make us feel safe. And now, perhaps we don’t… need that.” He looked at her hopefully, and she nodded before her eyes suddenly widened again.

“_Odette_,” she whispered.

Killian glanced at the time. It was just after eight in the morning, meaning the Emma’s spell on her own apartment door should have been broken.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand.

They ran up the stairs to her apartment, leaving the door to his own open in their haste, and Emma reached out to touch the doorknob. She waved her hand over it once, unlocking it, and opened the door. There was no sign of Odette, in her original form or a new one, but there were splashing sounds coming from the bathroom. Killian followed Emma down the hall towards the source of the noise.

In the bathroom they found a swan. A swan who had, somehow, figured out how to run the bath, and was now quite happily splashing around in the pool she’d made for herself in the tub.

“Odette?” Emma questioned, and the swan turned towards her, shaking her feathers in acknowledgement.

And then, to Killian’s surprise, Emma laughed. A loud, carefree, boisterous laugh that caused Killian to join in. Odette watched them curiously. There were soft footfalls in the hallway and Killian turned to find Captain, in his new, small form.

“So, what, we found each other and suddenly our familiars changed?” Emma said, tears running down her cheeks from laughter. “That’s insane.”

As if in response, Odette shook once, hopped out of the tub, and changed forms once more. 

And then again.

And again.

She moved between swan, cat, and her original hybrid form, shifting back and forth right before their eyes. She finally settled on a white cat and sat calmly on the bathroom floor.

“She can _change_?” Emma asked. They turned to Captain, who seemed to roll his eyes before going through the same motions. Cat. Lion. Jaguar. Wings. No wings. It was giving Killian a headache.

“It seems our familiars might know better than we do, Swan.” 

“About time you two found each other,” came a voice from Odette’s general direction. But it couldn’t have been Odette. “Yes, before you ask, I speak.”

Or maybe it could.

“Odette!?” Emma asked again. 

“Yes, Emma. I’ve been waiting a long time to show you my true form. I’m so glad you’ve finally accepted yourself.” Odette moved closer, rubbing her body against Emma’s legs in a distinctly cat-like move. “And him.”

“Me?” Killian asked, pointedly ignoring the fact that he was _talking to a cat_, familiar or not.

“Oh yes. Captain and I have waited a long time for the two of you to come together. We came to you in your times of need, becoming the protectors you’d either lost or never had to begin with. But we were always destined to be more. We just needed both of you to cooperate, and you’re both quite stubborn. Emma, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but time travel is impossible. The DeLorean is meant to _see_ through time, but cannot travel throughout it.”

“See through time?” Emma asked, her eyes seemingly stuck as wide as saucers. Killian took her hand and she squeezed once.

“Yes. With it, you can _observe_ things that have happened in the past, but you cannot experience or change them.”

“Have you always been able to talk?” Killian asked suddenly.

“Yes, Killian.” Captain spoke this time, and Killian’s head felt like it was spinning from all of the new information. “But Odette and I, and other familiars like us, those who are able to take many forms, choose not to. Our speaking to you would have only hindered your progress. You needed to get here on your own. Just the two of you.”

“So we were, what, destined to meet?” Emma asked.

“Not exactly. It’s rare for two witches like yourselves to be so close in proximity. You’re quite strong, both of you, and your potential for _good magic_ seems to have unlocked when you touched.”

“Good magic,” Killian repeated. “That’s… that’s what’s happening when I can see the pink around us, right?”

“Yes, Killian. Of course, you both also had the potential to unlock bad magic. It seems that when your paths crossed, your destinies were sealed. You both needed each other in order to complete the change. And now, you don’t need us to protect you anymore. And so, while we can still take other forms as needed, we’ll present ourselves in this way.”

“I think we’ve got a lot to learn, Swan,” Killian said, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

“You wanna stick around and listen to our cats talk some more?” Emma looked at him with hopeful eyes, as though she expected him to say no.

“Oh, I intend to stick around for much longer than that,” he said with a wink. She leaned against him, and Odette began to tell them the story of dark magic and good, or light, magic, and how the two of them were now linked together, destinies intertwined.


End file.
